


Wisdom

by Kay (sincere)



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Ambiguous Loki, F/M, Silly, Teen Romance, Teenage Misogyny, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-30
Updated: 2013-04-30
Packaged: 2017-12-10 01:23:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/780145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sincere/pseuds/Kay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor kisses Sif one warm afternoon, so of course she hits him. She is young and inexperienced and scared of herself... But she finds herself again when Loki takes her to task for her lashing out. And herself is angry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wisdom

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't making progress on my fics, so I asked for [Sif] prompts. Jenn, a lovely friend of mine on Tumblr, gave me "5 times Sif rejected Thor, and 1 time she didn't, with bonus for threesomey inclinations with Loki." But I had [already done](http://archiveofourown.org/works/543597) a 5 times fic with Thor/Sif that played with Loki's conflicted jealousy, so instead I just ran with "Sif, Thor, Loki, rejection".
> 
> Heavily borrowing from Tales of Asgard's young Loki. Young Loki is intelligent but he is not yet _smooth_. This got away from me and became very dorky.

"You struck my brother."

Sif sucked in a breath and whirled around, already reaching for the dagger at her hip. Loki was posed against a pillar, cool and indifferent, watching her as if he had been there all along and she had simply breezed past him without noticing. She thought she was _never_ going to get used to that, the way that he simply seemed to appear out of nothing, moving silently and stealthily. He was either a very strange prince or a very well-disguised snake.

Then his question came back to her, and she snapped, "Is that what _he_ told you?"

"No," Loki admitted. "It doesn't take extensive research to piece it together. He had a split lip and the side of his face was swollen, and he was miserable. He claimed it was a practice injury, and it _obviously_ wasn't, so he was protecting whoever had hit him. Which makes it a little different from a practice injury, I think you understand."

He gave it such dire significance, put like that. Sif set her jaw and said, "He deserved it."

"Perhaps." He didn't deny the possibility, but he didn't sound interested in learning more about it, either. He only straightened up, his stare boring holes in her.

Sif didn't like to admit it, but she found him somewhat unnerving. She could never read him, and even though he was younger than Thor, of an age with her, he had the composure and the dignity of one much older. When her other peers stared at her, she felt pressured and defiant. When Loki stared at her, she felt _judged_.

And defensive. "He kissed me!" she snapped. "Out of nowhere, with no warning, certainly with no permission from me. So, yes, I _struck_ him."

Even thinking of it made her flush, hours later. They had been playing about, as usual; sparring, graduated into chasing, and then they came together under a wide-boughed oak tree, breathing hard and laughing, adrenaline running through them and warmed by the sun that found them, light dancing through the leaves overhead and glowing in their hair. Her back had been to the tree bark and Thor had suddenly leaned in over her, hands to either side of her head, and his lips had been on hers.

No one had ever kissed her before. It had been paralyzing, firm and tense, wonderful with excitement pounding through her.

But no one had ever _kissed_ her before, and aside from a few scattered, mortifying childish fantasies about her strong and handsome royal playmate, it had come as a complete surprise and she hadn't known what to do with herself. Other than to lash out.

"Did you dislike it?" Loki asked, reasonably.

"That's not the point!"

"Then what is the point?"

"That he had no right!"

"If you don't want him to kiss you, tell him." Loki stated it as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "If you do want him to kiss you--" And his eyes narrowed. "--Don't _hit_ him."

It should not have surprised her that Loki, of all people, saw it in a black and white way: that he did not care for the emotional complexities of why it might be upsetting to be kissed unannounced even if she secretly wanted to be kissed, or why it might be difficult for her to simply analyze her feelings, decide, and announce the results to Thor. But somehow none of that was what came to mind, and Sif felt her brow furrow, and she said, "You're -- protecting him. _You're_ protecting _him_. From _me?_ "

Some color rose in Loki's face, brushing warmth into his high cheekbones, and he glanced away, as if irritable. "You think yourself so innocent. You don't know the terror you could wreak if nobody speaks to you about it."

Sif closed her mouth so fast her teeth clacked together. "Really! I am such a terror."

"Girls have too much power over boys," he declared sagely, and now he sounded very much fourteen, and Sif felt foolish for ever letting herself be tricked into thinking he was somehow more than that. "Obviously Thor could trounce you if he really wanted to, but what he wants to do is _kiss_ you. That puts him in a very weak position."

"Oh, I see. He's in a weak position." Her voice sounded like acid to her own ears. Loki was very lucky indeed she didn't have the power to make it burn properly. "No wonder he needs you to defend him from me."

"You distract him!" Loki said, indignant, perhaps in response to her tone. "With your--" He gestured in her direction."--Your pretty _hair_ and your--" There were more gestures here instead of words, and more color in his face.

Sif hissed, "You are the _next_ person I am going to strike!" and he slipped quickly away from her advance.

"I am just telling you to be careful!" he insisted, backing up.

"You are telling me it's my responsibility to keep Thor from deciding to touch me in ways that I will hit him for!" Sif's hands were curled into fists. She would show Loki how much of a _terror_ she could be. "Tell _Thor_ that if he doesn't want to get _struck_ , he can damn well ask me what I want before he does something stupid!"

Loki retreated until he collided into the door, and then he insisted, "Don't you think you're overreacting -- again?" And he fled out it when she lunged for him.

She didn't speak to Thor for a week, leading him to believe she was quite a bit more offended by the kiss than she actually had been. Sif told herself again and again that she was a rational, reasonable person, and that she was less offended to have been kissed (especially seeing as it had been a very nice kiss) than because Thor had done so without first making sure that his feelings were mutual; if she had not wanted him to kiss her, their friendship could have been ruined, and the very thought of it made her stomach curdle. She even told herself, again and again, that it was nice to see Loki standing up for Thor, trying to defend him, instead of looking out for himself first and foremost, untouchable and aloof -- even if it had been at her expense, and even if his ideals were very, _very_ ill-advised.

Still, the only thing that saved Loki from a bruise to match Thor's was that he hid from her for the entire week, thus demonstrating that he did, indeed, have wisdom beyond his years.


End file.
